Recently, the globalization strategy of Yuanqi Forest, a domestic "beverage dark horse", has ushered in new progress. On December 21, "Consumption Titanium" learned that starting from January 2024, Genki Forest Sparkling Water will be officially sold at 591 Costco stores in the United States. "Consumption Titanium" found that the Yuanqi Forest sugar-free sparkling water, which is popular in China, has already become popular overseas, and has entered the consumer market in more than 40 countries and regions. At the same time, the sales of Yuanqi Forest sparkling water in many regions are booming, and consumers in many regions are shouting to sell Yuanqi Forest to their side.
In the eyes of industry insiders, at a time when food and beverage is taking health and safety as the mainstream trend, the brand gene of Yuanqi Forest is very suitable for overseas markets. The globalization strategy can improve the overall competitiveness of Yuanqi Forest and better respond to the challenges of domestic and foreign markets.
Significant expansion into the U.S. market
It is reported that from July 2023, Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water will be sold at Costco in the Bay Area, Chicago, Texas, Los Angeles and other regions in the United States. In January 2024, Yuanqi Forest will complete the layout of Costco in the United States.
In fact, Yuanqi Forest has already entered the U.S. market. Yuanqi Forest previously revealed that in May 2021, Yuanqi Forest was launched in the United States, which lasted 7 months, and its sparkling water products once rushed from 380 to the top 10 in the best-selling list of sparkling water on Amazon, the largest e-commerce platform in the United States, and once occupied the top 3 of the new sparkling water list.
Nowadays, Yuanqi Forest, which has entered Costco in the United States, is also optimistic about the development of the US market. Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, said that Costco, as the largest membership-based warehouse supermarket in the United States, has a huge consumer base and high brand awareness. By cooperating with Costco, Yuanqi Forest can quickly expand its sales channels in the U.S. market, increase brand awareness and market share, and quickly open up the U.S. market.
"Consumption Titanium" browsed the "Yuanqi Forest Overseas Employees' Exclusive Fishing Account" on Xiaohongshu and found that the Yuanqi Forest sparkling water, which was once popular in China, has already become popular overseas and has become a popular drink for overseas consumers.
"Consumption Titanium" learned that the official English name of the American version of the Genki Forest is "Chi Forest". The U.S. version of Genki Forest Sparkling Water is available in both aluminum cans and bottles, and the packaging is printed with the handwritten texture of a brush "Chi".
In July this year, when the Genki Forest Sparkling Water was first launched on Costco in the Bay Area of the United States, Costco's Genki Forest Sparkling Water in many places was sold short on the day of its launch, and the sales continued to be hot. In the comment area of the notes, consumers in many areas reported their coordinates and shouted that Yuanqi Forest was sold to their side, and consumers in Chicago, Canada and other places responded enthusiastically.
Demand-driven growth
Founded in 2016, Yuanqi Forest has quickly gained a foothold in the domestic beverage market with its phenomenal large single product "sugar-free sparkling water", and has successfully implanted the concept of sugar-free drinks into the hearts of domestic consumers.
As a recognized "dark horse player" in the beverage market, Yuanqi Forest has a series of products such as Yuanqi Forest sparkling water, burning tea, milk tea, alien electrolyte water, etc., and has established a product innovation matrix covering sparkling water, tea drinks, milk tea, etc., and its products have now covered more than 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government.
While achieving breakthrough development in the domestic market, Yuanqi Forest has already started its globalization strategy and expanded in many countries around the world. Since 2019, Yuanqi Forest has successfully entered the consumer market in more than 40 countries and regions, including the United States, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia.
In terms of innovation, Yuanqi Forest starts from a multi-dimensional global perspective, and selects more excellent raw materials, technologies and trendy concepts around the world and integrates them into its products. At a time when food and beverage are widely based on health and safety as consumer demand standards, a variety of products of Yuanqi Forest have also stepped on the healthy consumer demand.
Tang Jin, head of Yuanqi Forest's international business, once said that in Indonesia and the United States, Yuanqi Forest's products have unique competitiveness. In the United States, Yuanqi Forest has found through repeated surveys that users who have purchased Yuanqi Forest many times say that the sparkling water in the United States has a single and bland taste, while the sparkling water of Yuanqi Forest has a strong sense of bubbles and rich taste. In Indonesia, although local users still prefer foods that are high in sugar and calories, there is a gradual increase in health awareness.
Jiang Han pointed out that Yuanqi Forest has launched a variety of beverage products that meet the needs of consumers with product innovation as the core. And the brand DNA of Yuanqi Forest is very suitable for some overseas markets, especially those countries with high demand for healthy diets. As global consumers pay more attention to healthy lifestyles, Yuanqi Forest's product positioning is expected to gain more recognition in overseas markets.
At present, Genki Forest has been officially certified by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) of Singapore and has been awarded the Singapore HCS Health Preferred Label. At the same time, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan, which have the strictest compliance requirements in Asia, have all passed the registration and filing of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) of the country.
Towards the goal of globalization
It can be seen that in order to complete brand building in different countries more quickly and meet market demand, Yuanqi Forest has responded to the markets of different countries with different channels.
"Consumption Titanium" learned that in Singapore, Yuanqi Forest has now entered more than 500 local mainstream supermarkets and convenience stores, including Fair Price, SHENGSIONG, Giant, 7- In Malaysia, Genki Forest has entered the mainstream market with more than 3,500 mainstream supermarkets and convenience stores, and in Indonesia, Genki Forest has entered the mainstream market with local leading convenience store chain channels Indomaret and Alfamart, as well as top supermarket chains Lion Superindo and Yogya The Group has partnered with more than 30,000 retail outlets, and in Australia, Metaverse Forest has entered nearly 1,000 stores in Woolworths, one of Australia's largest supermarket chains......
In August 2022, Yuanqi Forest reached a cooperation with Meta Inc., and settled in Meta's three regional offices in Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong, China, and became an all-you-can-drink beverage provided by Meta to employees.
In the 10 years since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, China's consumer goods have gone through a journey from made in China to Chinese brands, and going abroad has become the norm for many food and beverage brands. At the same time, with the continuous improvement of overseas consumers' awareness of Chinese culture and products, Chinese food and beverage brands are also sought after by overseas consumers, which provides opportunities for Chinese food and beverage brands to go overseas.
Some industry insiders pointed out that in the next 10 years, Chinese beverage companies may continue to make efforts in going overseas, and going overseas will become a must for Chinese beverage companies. Tang Binsen, the founder of Yuanqi Forest, also told his team, "I hope that in the next 10 years, Yuanqi Forest's products can be seen all over the world." ”
In this context, Yuanqi Forest's globalization strategy has also been recognized by industry insiders. In Jiang Han's view, the globalization strategy can help Yuanqi Forest further expand its market scale and improve brand awareness. At the same time, the globalization strategy can improve the product innovation ability and quality of Yuanqi Forest to meet the needs of global consumers. In addition, the globalization strategy can also improve the overall competitiveness of Yuanqi Forest and meet the challenges of domestic and foreign markets.